(Newser)
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While Democrats sparkle in the media glare, the Republican Party is quietly crumbling off-stage, Politico reports. President Bush’s numbers are lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned, and the GOP is losing House seats that it has held for 20 or 30 years. “The anti-Republican mood is fairly big, and it has been overwhelming,” said Michigan's GOP chairman.

John McCain's senior adviser, Charlie Black, is urging his boss to take notice: “Nobody ever gets elected president by running on their party label,” he said. “The character, the qualities, the independence—that certainly allows him to rise over the party label. It is more important than usual to rise above the party label.”